LEARNING THE CHINESE SCRIPT CAN BE EASY1

Abstract

Learning to speak Chinese can be difficult; learning to speak and to read Chinese at the same time is definitely not easy; learning to speak, to read, and to write in Chinese, all three at the same time, is probably what has given Chinese its reputation as a difficult language. The difficulty, however, is not that Chinese is difficult to speak, to read, or to write; rather, it often lies in the way Chinese has been taught. And bad teaching can have many causes. Perhaps the teacher is not able to show the students in what specific area8 Chinese is different from their native language. Sometimes the teache r shows the students the difference but does not drill them enough for them to form the necessary new skills. Often the instructor is teaching endless items in the language inanunorganized manner and therefore the students find it difficult to remember them. Quite frequently the teacher is giving instruction in too many subjects: in speaking, in reading, and in writing simultaneously. Any one of these can give the learner the mistaken impression that the language is difficult. He does not realize that perhaps the techniques are responsible for the difficulties in the learning process. The purpose of this article is to show that learning to write in Chinese can be made easy. Three related points are discussed below. The first one is to make learning to write the sole new thing the students are undertaking. In other words, writing should not be carried on simultaneously with speaking and reading. Students should be taught to speak first. While learning to speak they establish new oral habits. After the new oral habits are established they learn to read. During the reading process, students must no longer be struggling with strange phonological, morphological, or syntactical features.